Former McNeese State tight end Nic Jacobs was among the Saints’ priority undrafted free agent signings, his agent Zeke Sandhu said Sunday.

Jacobs spent his freshman and sophomore seasons at LSU as a backup. He caught 32 passes for 453 yards and four touchdowns in one campaign at McNeese before declaring for the draft.

Speaking at the combine, where he strained a pectoral muscle participating in the 225-pound bench press (15 reps), Jacobs explained how he was primarily used as a blocker at LSU and caught only five passes.

He missed the last three games of his second year at LSU for violating team rules and transferred to McNeese, a school in the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). There, he developed — and effectively utilized — his skills as a receiver.

“I really feel like I got better at my route-running and better at my catching at McNeese,” said Jacobs, who left school early in an effort to better support his family. “But at LSU, I really polished my blocking game.”

Jacobs admitted the competition at McNeese was less stiff than it was in the Southeastern Conference. Yet he insisted his college career showed he can “be a mismatch in coverage as well as block … on the line.”

“When I get in the game, no one’s going to know what I’m going to do,” he said.

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Nick Underhill began covering the Saints for The Advocate in 2014. He previously covered the New England Patriots for four seasons. He can be reached at nunderhill@theadvocate.com and is @nick_underhill on Twitter.